Turkish beverages company invested $500m in 10 years

LAHORE - CCI Group Turkey Director Atilla Yerlikaya has said that the Turkish company has invested more than $500 million by establishing as well as expanding six manufacturing plants in Pakistan during last 10 years.

He stated this during the inaugural ceremony of PAKMEDICA medical and cosmetics conference. The fair was earlier inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Atilla said that as a Turkish foreign economic relations board member, and a director for a Turkish company doing business in Pakistan for more than a decade, he feels that Pakistan remains an attractive destination for foreign investment from Turkey.

He described that besides his own company - the Coca-Cola Icecek - many other Turkish companies are expanding their investment portfolio in Pakistan thereby increasing the size of Turkish FDI inflow into the country. He said that the Turkey’s businesses are showing a great confidence in the future of Pakistan as an attractive business opportunity.

Atilla also lauded the improving efficiency of Pakistan’s infrastructure and cited that while at one point in time, CCI’s production operations in Pakistan depended on 60 percent diesel generated energy, but now the situation has improved tremendously. He said, “CCI’s decision to invest in Pakistan has been the right one because not a single dollar of investment in the country has been wasted”. He also highlighted that because of CCI’s investment, several thousand direct and indirect jobs opportunities have emerged for the local people.

CCI Pakistan - established in 2008 - produces, distributes and sells sparkling and still beverages of The Coca-Cola Company in Pakistan. CCI Pakistan is a subsidiary of CCI, the fifth largest bottler in the Coca-Cola system in terms of sales volume.